Rarely has the District seen so many planning and forecasting activities occurring
 all at once.

In addition to the critical work being done to amend the District's Comprehensive Plan
(which will wend its way through City Council this fall), there are very active efforts
being undertaken by the Control Board to develop a Strategic Plan that will be presented
at an Economic Summit on November 12.

Funded by a $250,000 special Federal appropriation, the effort is being directed for
the Control Board by Richard Monteilh, Director of the Department of Housing and Community
Development. (Monteilh's senior advisor for the strategic plan sessions is Federation
Board member and Southwest Neighborhood Assembly delegate Marc Weiss.)

The industry networks began meeting earlier this month, and
cross-cutting policy working groups are now beginning to meet to identify
common goals that affect most or all groups. Contact information is below; delegates involved in these
areas of study are encouraged to participate.

The efforts of these several working groups will build upon existing economic
development activities such as the new Washington D. C. Marketing Center, the Washington
D.C. Partners in Homeownership, D. C. Agendas Workforce Preparation Task Force, the
Community Development Support Collaborative, and a number of other efforts now under way.

In addition, the District's Office of Planning will be holding a public meeting to
discuss the Downtown Action Plan on Thursday, September 24 (see box below).

In commenting on the development of the strategic plan, Control Board Chair Dr. Alice
Rivlin expressed her firm belief that voices from throughout the community should be part
of economic development, not just the downtown business core. She particularly cited the
need to bring economic development into neighborhoods and communities throughout the
District.

Dr. Rivlin was asked at a recent meeting of the Committee of 100 on the Federal City
about her view of these task force approaches, as opposed to the establishment
of a broad Planning Commission (the likes of which are in place in nearly all major
cities).

Rivlin indicated she was very open to proposals for how such a Commission might be
structured and how it could contribute to the on-going planning process in the District.
The Federation News will report on any such proposals.

The current work of the task forces created by the Department of Housing and Community
Development also needs to be linked to proposals for regulatory reform (profiled in part
on page 3), and linked to internal departmental strategic reforms.

The Federations September speaker, Lloyd Jordan, will describe the process for
new strategic planning under way at the bug-troubled Department of Consumer and Regulatory
Affairs.

Recommended by Chief Management Officer Camille Barnett and appointed by Mayor Marion
Barry, Jordan comes to the District from St. Louis, Missouri, where he was the city's
chief of staff and chief administrative officer, as well as chairman of the St. Louis
Development Corporation.

He earned his law degree at the St. Louis University School of Law and his
undergraduate degree in computer science and applied mathematics at Washington University
School of Engineering.

Jordan will profile for Federation delegates and their guests the process that is now
underway at DCRA to do more than improve the agency, but to rebuild it. Residents can only
hope for quick success.

In the June Federation News, we profiled the Brimmer orders for regulatory
reform issued by the Control Board in what were expected to be the final days of Chairman
Andrew Brimmer.

Because Chairman Brimmers term was extended for 90 days in order to arrange for a
calmer transition between Control Board teams, this summer saw a real possibility that the
proposed regulations and executive orders were going to be enacted on August 25, with
virtually no opportunity for public comment.

Many civic organizations and ANCs pined the Federation's effort to postpone such
dramatic action, in order to allow for citizens input.

The Control Board agreed, and extended the comment period in several steps, finally
extending it until October 1. A general review of the ways in which the proposals affect
individual property owners, neighborhoods, and small businesses is contained in the
following box.

Federation delegates will be voting on the overall proposal during the business portion
of the September 29 meeting. Detailed analysis is available from Board members or from
President Zartman.

We urge everyone to consider how these proposals will affect their own areas and make
comments reflecting these concerns. Those comments should be addressed to:

Recently, the Current Newspaper carried a story about the partnership
that has developed between two Federation member associations, the Hillcrest Community
Civic Association and the Palisades Citizens Association.

It was a very good story, about how the two groups were sharing
organizational information, approaches to pint concerns, and the very experience of
learning more about one another. But just as good was the letter to the editor of the Washington
Post that the associations officers prepared in response to suggestions by
Mayor Barry that voters should pick candidates in the November general election because of
their race. Excerpts from the letter signed by Penny Pagano and Miles Steele follow:

More than a year ago, our two community organizations  the
Palisades Citizens Association in Northwest ... and the Hillcrest Community Civic
Association in Southeast, formed a partnership with specific goals. We wanted to interact
with other communities in our city, discuss common issues, and find new ways to move our
neighborhoods forward together ... We have learned that the city's scenic rivers and parks
create natural barriers, much as people have created others by not communicating. The
result has been many misperceptions about tour neighborhoods and our wards.

But no more. A growing number of city residents understand that the
best way to go forward is to go together to have one city and one people.... Building
bridges will get us a lot further than tossing racial insults. It's not about the color of
one's skin, but rather the content of their character. D. C. residents have a choice - and
an obligation  to cast their votes to elect our city officials.... We hope the mayor
will join the rest of us in going forward ...

Kudos to Miles and Penny  and the organizations they represent. Other
organizations interested in similar partnerships might talk with Miles and Penny or Alice
Stewart, Palisades vice president and our Federation Secretary.

Recent press accounts tell quite a story about what it takes to run for public office
across the District. Analyzing what was spent by each major candidate for Mayor and how
many votes were received, the Washington Times computed the cost-per-vote for the
top five as follows:

Over the summer, there was ample opportunity to argue a particular case
for the residents of the District. It goes like this:

Economic development is not an activity that involves only corporations, developers. and
the professions that support them.

The revenues provided by residents through their individual income taxes and property
taxes are the single largest source of income for the District.

Anything that makes residential communities less stable harms the economic development
of the District.

Residents have a deep concern for generating new sources of revenue for the District, so
that their individual burdens might be lightened.

Not all new sources of revenue are net gains for the District treasury.

New development and expanded operations by institutions that pay no taxes to the
District need to be examined particularly closely for their impact on the tax-paying
institutions of the District.

This newsletter refers to economic development strategic planning
currently under way through the offices of the Control Board. It also contains information
about how you and your association can be part of that planning. I encourage you ù or
others in your organization  to seize the opportunity to be part of that planning.
Bring your thoughts and your constructive suggestions and become part of this process,
which will produce a final strategic plan by November.

Having won the opportunity to be part of the dialogue, lets make
the most of it.

Barbara Zartman

Lucille Molinelli has been through a spate of bad luck, and she is in rehabilitation
at the Washington Home. Social as ever, Lucille would welcome calls and visits while she
recuperates. The widow of wonderful Federation stalwart Jimmy Molinelli, Lucille
will represent Foggy Bottom Association when she is back on her feet. You can reach
Lucille at 895 0531 (Ext. 316).

The House of Representatives voted to remove funding for Advisory Neighborhood
Commissions from the 1998-99 D. C. Appropriation bill.

The floor rhetoric focused on misuse of funds by a few ANCs, and it reflected a great
lack of knowledge of the criticalcommunication link that most ANCs provide.
Ironically, a colloquy on the floor involving Tom Davis of Virginia suggested that the
ANCs function could be provided by the Federation of citizens Associations!

Some productive dialogue with the committee may have given them a fuller understanding
of both the limitations on how much a voluntary Federation might provide, and how the ANCs
might be improved, rather than done away with. There are 37 ANCs in the District, with 299
single-member districts. Overall there are 275 candidates for the 299 seats, but they are
not evenly distributed. Some single-member districts have as many as four candidates,
others have none (they are shown in the box below). An ANC may have as few as 2 members or
as many as 14.

Members are encouraged to communicate with Chairman Davis (225- 6751) and with his
Senate counterpart (224-3682), as well as the Chairmen of the Appropriations subcommittees
(Senate: 224-1526 and House 225-6401).

Even the harshest critics of ANCs must provide some replacement mechanism for helping
communities, businesses, and individual property owners of proposals that would change the
character of their neighborhood, their street, the very properties next door. There is
real potential for establishing a mend it, don't end it approach to the
problems that beset some ANCs.

The Federation is anxious to identify opportunities to participate in recruitment,
training and support that will produce stronger Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. Any
member group is urged to share thoughts with a Board member.

Many individual ANCs do not have any candidate at all. The list of those single
member districts follow. Write-in campaigns can elect a qualified commissioner  with
as little as a single vote (no campaign, no expense!). Wont you review the list and
see whether someone you know would make a real contribution as a member of your ANC.

Very recently the D. C. Court of Appeals refused to grant a petition for further
inquiry into what constitutes proof of residency  or what constitutes sufficient
evidence to call residence into question for persons seeking to vote in the District.

In a split decision, the court found that telephone directories and drivers
license records had no probative value in calling someones residence into question.

While the case originated with student voting in ANC elections in Georgetown, the
issues affect every citizens right to question whether his or her vote can be
negated by the vote cast by someone who abuses the honor system governing
voter registration in the District.

The Court of Appeals is being petitioned for en banc review because the
ruling will affect all elections in the District, according to Georgetown Residents
Alliance delegate Don Crockett, who is representing the two candidates defeated by newly
registered voters, precisely.

It is also subject to review by the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia
because of the alleged violations of civil rights.

The dissent, written by Senior Judge George Gallagher, faulted the Special Master who
conducted evidentiary hearings for failing to adequately probe the
understandings of the challenged voters, especially in light of false encouragement given
to voters by campaign organizers.

The dissent quoted the amicus American Civil Liberties Union in its argument
that potential voters were being told emphatically that they should register here in
D.C. and that it made no difference ... where they paid their taxes, where their car
should be registered, where their driver's license should be ...

Judge Gallagher, noting that a voters right to cast an undiluted vote is
fundamental to American democracy, questioned whether the Special Master and the
court majority had adequately considered what must be done to protect that right and
balance it against the separate right of a voter to cast an unintimidated ballot.

Continued Judge Gallagher, The negation of a qualified citizens vote is a
grievous loss, and when multiplied, as here, is a serious community issue.

Many associations experience the frustration of having too little information about how
to understand a development proposal, how to protect community rights, how to work with
developers to make projects better.

The special concerns of associations that ring the downtown development area have led
to the creation of the Horseshoe Alliance Resource Center. The horseshoe
reflects the arc of associations that include Foggy Bottom, the Pennsylvania Quarter,
Dupont and Logan Circles, Chinatown, and the people in between.

HARC does not intend to be an advocacy organization; rather, it will establish a
resource available to any D.C. resident, regardless of their position on a zoning issue.
Its goal it to promote more balanced presentations to the Board of zoning Adjustment, the
Zoning Commission, and the National Capital Planning Commission.

The Alliance has regular meetings to consider how best to organize, and how best to
provide assistance to all who are making presentations before the land use agencies. Their
current agenda includes:

Identifying proposed location(s) for library of materials, as well as content and
maintenance

The Districts Zoning Commission once again has the topic of CBRFs before it for
rulemaking.

The Federal Departments of Justice and HUD have pressed the city to agree to enact new
rules governing siting of group homes, and the current proposal would allow unlimited
numbers of CBRFs as a matter of right in residential neighborhoods.

One activist group has suggested removing the term family from the zoning
code, replacing it with household, which could include up to 15 prior serious
criminal behavior. unrelated persons.

Delegates from Capitol Hill, Hillandale, 16th Street Heights, Georgetown Residents
Alliance, among others, are offering proposals to limit the number of such homes - and to
provide for some notice to communities when the group homes will house individuals whose
disabilities are linked with

The next hearings are on the evenings of September 24 and October 15; associations that
wish to take an active part should contact delegate Dick Wolfe of the Capitol Hill
Restoration Society at 543-4353.

Federation assembly meetings will be held on the following dates; all will begin at 7
p.m. and will be held at the Sumner School unless special notice is given.

October 27
November 24
December, Holiday Luncheon TBA
January 26
February 23
March 23
April - Annual Banquet TBA
May 26
June 22.

This is a switch from the traditional second Thursday pattern
of past years. The Board elected to change the schedule in order to accommodate member
groups that had structural conflicts with those Thursday meetings. We look forward to
having them with us at our monthly sessions.